National Post (National Edition)
‘WE SURVIVED THE UNJUSTIFED BS!’
FORMERLY EMBROILED SENATORS DO VICTORY LAP
Back on Nov. 5, 2013, the day the Senate suspended three of its Conservative members amid an expenses scandal, the only colleague of theirs who opposed the penalties, Hugh Segal, said he had “zero” hope any of them would ever be permitted to return.
In fact, Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin all went on to regain their jobs — a comeback victory they suddenly decided to flaunt on Wednesday night, when Brazeau posted a smiling group photo to his verified Twitter account.
“Like it or not, we survived the unjustified bs!” Brazeau wrote as a caption.
The “bs” over which the senators prevailed, as Brazeau put it, were allegations of improper spending that prompted the RCMP to investigate each of them.
Though Wallin was never charged and the Crown withdrew fraud and breach of trust charges against Brazeau in 2016, Duffy’s case culminated in a highly publicized criminal trial at which he was cleared of all 31 criminal charges.
Duffy, a former broadcaster nominated to the Senate by Stephen Harper, was alleged to have falsely claimed that he primarily lived in P.E.I. to qualify for the housing allowance despite owning a home in Ottawa for decades. Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt dismissed 27 charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust against Duffy and found him not guilty of the other four at the end of his trial in April 2016.
At the time, Duffy’s lawyer, Don Bayne, called the verdict “a resounding acquittal” and said the senator had been subjected for three years “to more public humiliation than probably any Canadian in history.”
Brazeau — who became the youngest senator in Canadian history when Stephen Harper nominated him to the post in 2008 — was also suspected of improperly availing himself of the housing allowance given to senators who live outside the Ottawa area by claiming his main residence was in Maniwaki, Que. Independent auditors determined that Brazeau hadn’t made any false residency claims.
Wallin, a longtime TV journalist and fellow Harper nominee, came under legal scrutiny for her travel expenses; investigators believed she’d billed the Senate for trips that weren’t connected to parliamentary business, including travel for her work on corporate boards. Wallin said her office might have erred in filing certain claims and repaid the Senate more than $150,000.
All three senators have sat as independents since they came back to the upper chamber, Wallin in 2015 and Brazeau and Duffy in 2016.
It’s unclear why, exactly, the three senators wanted to pose for a photo together or if Duffy and Wallin knew Brazeau planned to post the snapshot with his provocative caption.
Brazeau declined to be interviewed. Duffy didn’t respond to an interview request, while Wallin’s office said she wasn’t available on Thursday and likely wouldn’t have a comment on the matter anyway.
Brazeau’s caption didn’t indicate if the impending relocation of the Senate motivated him, Duffy and Wallin to stage the photo on Wednesday, but he did post it as senators prepare to bid farewell to their historic chamber in the Centre Block building on Parliament Hill.
After the Senate adjourns for the holidays later this month, its chamber will close for the next decade along with the rest of Centre Block while the building goes through overdue renovations.
A Senate committee recommended on Thursday that senators wait until Feb. 19 to reconvene for sittings in their new home.
Brazeau’s tweet also came on a day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nominated four new senators, filling every vacancy in the 105-member Senate for the first time in eight years.
The photo of Brazeau, Duffy and Wallin attracted dozens of scornful responses on Twitter, including calls to abolish the Senate, as well as a suggested alternate caption from a user named Jonathan Scott, who wrote, “This Christmas season, it’s the ghosts of senators past and present.”
“And future!” Brazeau replied.